Now, another gut-punch is seemingly just around the corner. DuraFiber, a company that manufactures the material used to create tires, is preparing to close in just about a month.

“People at DuraFiber made a home at DuraFiber,” Pauling said. “People that worked there had been 30 or 40 years. Now, all of a sudden, they without a job.”

Fairfield County Administrator Jason Taylor said the historic DuraFiber plant will soon go idle unless the company can find a buyer.

“It’s been a difficult time for Fairfield County,” Taylor said.

State records show the plant will begin laying off 240 people around Sept.11.

The county administrator and others believe the impact could be just as brutal as V.C. Summer’s layoffs. It might even create a more direct impact on the small town.

“It would have the most direct because most of those people live here in the county and in Winnsboro,” the county administrator said. “The 6,000 that work at V.C. Summer – they’re spread more around the Midlands: Richland County, Newberry County, a lot live over in Chapin.”

Taylor said he’s been working with economic development staff almost non-stop to do whatever they can to erase the layoffs by attracting new jobs, but right now, a lack of infrastructure is standing in the way.

A lack of hope is not.

“We will not only survive, we will thrive,” said Taylor. “We will move forward.”

As for V.C. Summer, county leaders are still hoping some of the projects can be revived. They want answers from SCANA.

According to Taylor, SCANA’s CEO, Kevin Marsh, will attend a Monday night county council meeting and participate in an executive session.

Highway Patrol troopers say they are searching for a 2001– 2005 Silver Toyota Sequoia or 2004 – 2005 Toyota Tundra with damage to right front headlight assembly and missing right side mirror. (Source: SCHP)

The South Carolina Highway Patrol is asking for the community’s help in locating a vehicle that was involved in a fatal hit-and-run crash Monday night in Hopkins.